WASHINGTON — Sen. Kevin Cramer warned Thursday that the United States has become too dependent on Elon Musk’s SpaceX for space-based military capabilities, arguing that no private company should hold decisive sway over technology used in warfare. “We’re putting too many eggs in one company’s basket when it comes to our space assets,” said Cramer, a North Dakota Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said recent events involving satellite communications in Ukraine had heightened concerns about the risks of relying on a single provider. Cramer made the comments after receiving a briefing from Air Force Secretary Troy Meink on Starshield, a SpaceX military product built on the company’s Starlink satellite technology. Before the briefing, Cramer said Congress and the Pentagon should direct substantial resources toward encouraging competition in both satellite manufacturing and launches. “I’m uncomfortable with the potential vendor lock in space,” he said, adding that the issue went beyond cost. Space is “a war-fighting domain,” he said, and he was concerned about the power of one person and one company over America’s ability to protect it. The scrutiny follows reports that Ukraine was caught off guard by a disruption to a SpaceX-developed satellite communications service. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Musk ordered a recent slowdown in Starshield capabilities in the Russia-Ukraine war theater. Cramer said Thursday he could not confirm whether Musk ordered the change, and that responsibility among multiple people remained unclear. Cramer said he believed the episode may have exposed a broader misunderstanding inside the U.S. government and SpaceX about how heavily Ukraine depended on the satellite technology. But he said the operation of systems such as Starshield should be under the exclusive authority of the U.S. government. “There are certain things the government has to do that can’t be so dependent on others,” Cramer said. “And fighting wars is one of those things.”